


Better a Bad Harvest

by seacliffs



Category: Degrassi the Next Generation, Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, M/M, but they both really want to and it will escalate, no actual infidelity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:22:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7960504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seacliffs/pseuds/seacliffs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miles has been living in this apartment for two years, and Tristan has been living in the apartment next to him for two weeks. They have great chemistry, so he's disappointed to find out that Tristan has a boyfriend. What's worse, he finds out that the wall between them is way too thin and he can hear everything that boyfriend does to him. How can he stop himself from interfering when he overhears more and more?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter one

Miles had been living in this apartment building for two years, ever since he decided to prove to his parents that he could make it on his own and not rely on their money and status to pave his way. He graduated university last year and was working as an editorial assistant for a local lifestyle magazine, which didn't pay a lot of money but it was enough to pay the bills and was good experience to have on his CV. 

His next-door neighbour, Tristan, had been living in this building for two weeks. Miles knew because he tried to see him every day.

It wasn't like he was an obsessive stalker or anything. He had met Tristan on the first day he moved in because he had been carrying a massive box that made his thin arms look even tinier. He was struggling to keep his balance and open his door at the same time, and Miles said, "Need some help?"

That simple introduction led to Miles helping him carry the rest of his things from his rented U-Haul to his apartment, and in that hour of being together Miles had learned his name, that he was a server and aspiring actor, he had grown up in Toronto, he was the same age as Miles, and he was estranged from his family. Disappointingly, Miles also found out that he had an on-again-off-again boyfriend he was often fighting with. Miles felt that he and Tristan had a spark, but when Tristan brought up his complicated relationship with his boyfriend Miles took it as a hint that he wasn't allowed to make a move on his tall, sweet, new neighbour with dyed jet black hair.

"Sorry, things are just really messy and I moved out of his place because I thought we could use some space, but he calls me constantly and tells me he wants me back, and I think I might already miss him. I don't know. I'm just so confused," Tristan fretted, wringing his delicately slender hands. 

Miles assured him that it was fine and that he could talk to him about his boyfriend troubles any time he needed to.

That had been two weeks ago. Every day since then, Miles had made a point of running into him at the mailboxes or on the stairs or the parking lot, just to say hi and make friendly small talk and maybe flirt a little. Tristan always blushed so prettily whenever Miles flirted, looking down so his eyelashes swept his cheekbones and smiling like he didn't want to but couldn't help it. It was addictive. 

He had seen the boyfriend around a few times, but hadn't talked to him. He was an older guy, Miles would even say surprisingly old for Tristan's age, handsome with well-groomed facial hair and always in a tie. Miles figured he must have some sort of professional job requiring businesswear. 

The first time Miles saw him, he was stomping out of Tristan's apartment looking extremely annoyed. Miles had ducked his head to look at his keys as he opened his own door, avoiding eye contact and therefore any conversation. 

The second him he saw him was the next day, pushing his way past Tristan into his apartment. The door had slammed and Miles could hear sounds of a screaming match, even something being broken. He thought about knocking on the door to check if Tristan was okay, but the fighting sounds died down after a while and Miles didn't want to overreach his boundaries. He went out to work and left them to whatever they were doing.

The third time was just last evening, as Miles was on his way out to meet a few friends for drinks. Miles had his hair gelled in a way he didn't usually do for work, and was dressed in slightly sexier clothes, more black and tighter jeans. On his way to the lobby he ran into Tristan and his boyfriend holding hands, smiling at each other for once. Miles didn't miss the way Tristan's eyes flicked appreciatively up and down his body, and he smirked, causing Tristan to blush. His boyfriend luckily didn't notice.

"Oh hi Miles, this is my boyfriend Grant. Grant, this is my next door neighbour Miles."

"It's nice to meet you," Miles said, the fake sincerity in his voice sounding believable after years of practice talking to reporters wanting to dig up dirt on his father. 

They shook hands and Grant gripped overly hard, like he was trying to assert his dominance. Miles pretended not to notice. Grant had on quite strong cologne, and it completely overwhelmed the pleasant but very faint trace of soap and shampoo that Tristan usually smelled of. Miles wanted to wrinkle his nose but didn't.

"I'm just on my way out to meet some friends at Bar Volo, I don't know if you guys want to come along, or…?" he invited just to be polite. 

"Thanks, but Grant and I—"

"We're having a date night," Grant interrupted Tristan, like he couldn't speak for himself. "Fancy dinner, live theatre, romantic stroll by the waterfront, all of that stuff. Gotta keep the missus happy, you know?" he winked at Miles like they were sharing a joke.

"Sure…yeah…" Miles looked at Tristan, who smiled politely at him. "Have fun."

Miles tried to forget about them as he hung out with Grace, Zoe, Winston, and Winston's new girlfriend. They chatted and caught each other up on various gossip and drama at work, and Miles had such a great time that his brain only wandered to Tristan and Grant a few times.

When he got home in the early hours of the morning, he was tipsy but not totally drunk, just enough to feel really sleepy. He showered and crawled into bed, ready to drift off, but before he fell asleep he heard something directly behind his headboard.

Loud moans. Skin slapping against skin. Groans. Squeaking bedsprings. 

It was the sound of two people fucking. And since the wall was the shared one between his and Tristan's apartment, he could guess exactly who the two people were.

He rolled over with an annoyed growl, putting a pillow over his head to try to drown out the noise, but it got louder and louder as their activities escalated. Soon their bed was slamming against the wall, and Tristan was making yelping noises almost like he was in pain. Grant's voice was lower, gruffer, and Miles could even make out the occasional word like "take it" and "you little slut."

Miles couldn't believe how rough they were doing it. In his fantasies—and he had to admit he had been fantasizing about it pretty often—he always imagined treating Tristan gently, romantically. He wondered if Tristan even liked it this rough. 

He felt guilty about how hearing them go at it was starting to affect him, his boxers tenting slowly. He refused to jerk off to voyeuristically listening to Tristan have sex.

Thankfully, the sounds finally stopped after a while and Miles was eventually able to fall asleep. 

The next morning, he woke to sounds of more banging, and he thought at first that they were going for round two. "Why me?" he groaned to himself, but then it became apparent that instead of fucking they were fighting again.

After a few minutes of indistinct yelling and things being thrown, he heard the door open and Tristan's voice screaming "GET OUT!" before it slammed shut.

Slightly hungover and feeling weird from what he had overheard last night, Miles puttered around making coffee before being unable to withstand the temptation to check on Tristan anymore. He threw on a t-shirt and sweatpants, didn't bother with shoes, and padded next door. 

He knocked gingerly and did not expect a heartbroken-looking Tristan to open the door. His face was red and blotchy and he had obviously been crying. He tried to smile and say hi, but it came out wobbly and then he started crying again.

"Oh no, are you okay?" Miles hurried forward without thinking and wrapped Tristan in a hug. "I heard yelling earlier, sorry, the walls aren't exactly soundproof. I just wanted to see if you needed anything."

"No, I'm fine, it's fine," Tristan said, which was bullshit because he was still soaking the material of Miles' shirt with his sobs.

"I made coffee, do you want to come over?"

Tristan accepted but after a few sips of coffee and calming down a little, he didn't want to talk about what had happened. Miles didn't push, just patted Tristan's back comfortingly. There was nothing he could do about Grant until Tristan decided for himself that something needed to be done, and until then all Miles could do was be there for him.

"I'm just so stupid, you know? He does this whole song and dance and I fall for his charm, and I forget all the horrible things he's done until he does it again, and then he turns on the charm and I forgive him again. I'm the worst."

"No you're not," Miles said automatically.

"You don't know that, maybe I really am," Tristan said, stirring his milky coffee with a spoon. But he couldn't help the tiny smile stealing across his lips.

"People who are overly trusting are never as bad as people who abuse your trust," Miles said firmly.

Tristan looked up at him. He reached out and touched the back of Miles' hand with just the very tips of his fingers. "Thanks," he said quietly.

Before he left, he washed both his own cup and Miles' as well, even drying them and putting them away. He gave Miles one last smile before slinking back to his own apartment. 

Miles had never really been a violent guy, but in that moment he wanted nothing more than to wring Grant's neck.


	2. Chapter 2

Days passed without Grant coming by again, and before Miles knew it a whole week went by without his smarmy face showing up around the building. 

Miles said hi to Tristan every morning, evenings too if he could manage to catch him, and he even convinced him to come over for coffee one more time. They were legitimately becoming good friends, even with that frisson of sexual tension between them that remained unsaid. Tristan was easy to talk to. He wasn't judgemental when Miles said mean things about his boss or his other friends, and he loved to laugh at Miles' jokes, even the really dumb ones. And his eyes lit up in the prettiest way whenever he talked about something he was passionate about, like an album he thought was great or a new play he might want to try out for. 

Miles was just getting up the nerve to ask Tristan if he'd like him to go watch his audition when they were interrupted by the buzz of Tristan's phone vibrating on the counter.

Tristan looked at the display quickly, then put it back down again, face-down. "Sorry, it's…"

"Grant?"

"Yeah," he said apologetically. "But I'll ignore it. What were you going to say?"

Miles opened his mouth, then shook his head. He felt like the moment was lost. "I was just going to wish you luck."

"What do you mean?"

"For the audition. The play. You should try out for it, I bet you'll be amazing."

"You've literally never even seen me act before," Tristan laughed, "I could suck and you wouldn't even know."

"No, you'll be amazing," Miles insisted.

Tristan hid his smile behind his cup. They moved on to other idle chat before Tristan left to run some errands and go about his day.

Later that afternoon, weather alerts started going out on the news, the radio, and other public service announcements about a severe thunderstorm that would be hitting the city that night. Miles didn't have plans to go out anyway, so he just made sure that his flashlights had working batteries and he had some candles for backup, and then he went out and bought some bottled water and snacks just in case. 

He readied himself for a quiet night in, re-runs on the TV providing a comforting background noise as he did some cleaning and before sitting down to read some magazines. The torrential downpour outside pounded on the windows, and flashes of lightening were followed by peals of thunder so loud that the glass of water on his coffee table shook. 

After a particularly ominous burst of lightening that looked unsettlingly near, all the lights went out with a pop and the TV fizzled to darkness.

"Oh great," Miles muttered. But he was prepared for this happening, and so he grabbed the flashlight he kept near and went about lighting a few candles so he could continue reading in their warm glow.

Just when he had settled down in a comfortable pile of couch cushions, someone knocked at his door. The wind and the rain outside ere so loud that he almost didn't hear it, but the knocks came again and he got up with a sigh.

To his surprise, it was Tristan on the other side, soaking wet and clutching a towel, looking wild-eyed and scared.

"Hey, come on in, are you okay?" Miles hurried to the side to give him room to step in.

Tristan wiped rather ineffectually at his face with his towel and said, "Yeah, sorry to bother you. It started storming before I could get home and I sprinted from the parking lot to the building but I still got drenched. And then the power went out, and…well, this is embarrassing, but I'm kind of afraid of the dark."

An overwhelming wave of affection washed over Miles' heart. "That's not embarrassing at all, it's actually kind of cute." 

It was too dark to see, but Miles could definitely guess that Tristan was blushing. "I was wondering if you'd mind if I stayed over until the power comes back on? It's so presumptuous of me, I'm sorry, I can go and leave you alone," Tristan said, backing away towards the door.

"No! No, it's not a problem at all, you can stay," Miles said, perhaps slightly too eagerly. "Let me get you another towel, you're soaked."

Miles left one flashlight with Tristan and took another into the closet in his en-suite bathroom, grabbing a big fluffy towel and also a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"Here," he said as he returned, "I got you some clothes you can borrow too, you're going to catch a cold if you stay in those."

Tristan took them with a thank you and Miles let him change in his bedroom. When he came back out again, his hair was all fluffy and sticking up from the vigorous toweling he'd done to dry himself off. Miles had to seriously bite his tongue to avoid saying something way too forward. Tristan looked downright appetizing in Miles' clothes, shirt stretched tight across his broader frame and pants hanging low on his skinny hips. What Miles wouldn't give for Tristan to be wearing his stuff all the time.

He cleared his throat when he realized he had been staring at his neighbour for a while, and just for something to do he asked if Tristan had a chance to eat yet. "Obviously I can't cook you anything, and we should keep the fridge closed to keep it cold for as long as possible since who knows when the power will come back on, but I have some fruit and a huge stash of crackers and cookies."

Tristan accepted an apple from the bowl on Miles' dining room table, and Miles opened a box of saltine crackers for them to share. He brought a few candles over so they could see, and Tristan joked, "A candlelit dinner, how romantic."

Miles had to laugh to hide how delighted he actually was that Tristan said something flirtatious to him, even if it was just jokingly.

They ate in companionable silence, but the storm just raged worse and worse. After a while, Tristan put down the cracker he had been nibbling half-heartedly and sighed. "Would it be okay if I just slept over? I don't know if I can make myself go back to my apartment when it's like this."

Miles couldn't believe he even had to ask. "Of course, it's totally fine, stay as long as you want." He meant for tonight, but he also kind of meant in general, forever. They could both tell that was what he was implying from his tone of voice.

Instead of laughing at him, or being awkward about it, Tristan just smiled. "Thanks. You're sweet. I don't deserve a friend like you."

"You deserve the world," Miles replied, perhaps slightly too intensely.

Tristan touched Miles' hand, something he did sometimes when words failed to describe that feeling between them. He got up to walk towards the couch but Miles stopped him.

"You should take the bed."

"I can't put you out of your own bed," Tristan said.

"The couch is good for sitting but it isn't that comfortable to sleep on, your back will get sore."

"All the more reason you shouldn't sleep on it either."

They both fell silent. "Tris—"

"Miles," Tristan said, at the same time. He started over. "Miles. I…I would say we should share the bed, but I don't trust myself around you. If we shared I would do something I regret."

Sour disappointment rose up in the back of Miles' throat.

"Oh no, I don't mean regret like—I wouldn't regret it because of _you_ ," Tristan hurried to clarify when he saw the look on Miles' face. "I just…things with Grant are complicated. He's hurt me so much, I refuse to stoop to his level and hurt him back with my actions," he said bitterly. "And he's got a temper. I don't know what he would do to you if he found out we…"

"Tris, you're scared of him. You shouldn't be with someone who scares you," Miles said gently, stepping forward to take his hand. 

"I know. Trust me, I know, I'm working on figuring things out, okay? But tonight isn't the night to make things even more complicated. I'm sorry." Tristan squeezed Miles' hand before drawing away.

"You should still take the bed," Miles insisted. "I won't be able to fall asleep anyway if I'm lying there worried about you getting your back broken from my couch."

Tristan didn't want to argue, so he lay down on Miles' bed and after a while fell asleep to the pattering sounds of the rain.

The couch was hell to lie on, as Miles predicted, and although he knew it was creepy he couldn't help getting up and sneaking into his bedroom after a while. He wouldn't sleep on the bed with Tristan, he promised he wouldn't, but he sat at the desk chair and watched Tristan sleep for a while. His black hair was like a dark halo on Miles' pillow, the contrast against his pale skin made him look almost like a marble statue. 

He must have fallen asleep just looking at Tristan, because the next thing he knew, he was waking up from being slumped over his desk with a crick in his neck. It was very early in the morning, the sun not yet fully risen, and the rain had stopped. 

He got up, stretching until his joints popped, and he padded over to his bed. He lay a hand on Tristan's cheek. "Rise and shine," he whispered. 

Tristan's eyes opened and locked onto Miles'. He smiled, and it was almost too much for Miles' heart to take.

They had a shitty breakfast of leftover crackers and cold water, and then belatedly discovered that the electricity was back on. They laughed at themselves for not checking first because they could've had something better, like real food. Their morning banter was interrupted by the sound of someone knocking not on Miles' door but on Tristan's, next door. 

Miles knew the sound of that knock, and from the way all the colour drained from his face so did Tristan.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," he said, giving Miles a quick hug, just an arm around his neck and a brief press of his cheek against Miles'. "Thank you for everything."

He slipped out of Miles' door, still in Miles' clothes. Miles pretended he could turn off his hearing when Grant started asking Tristan where he had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the last chapter. I have planned out exactly what will happen and written an outline already, but there is one part that will be very emotionally difficult, so if it comes later than expected that will be why. I promise I won't just leave you hanging though, it will be updated. Thanks so much for reading. Since I don't have a tumblr for fandom purposes, I would also really appreciate it if someone could tell the tumblr tags about this fic! <3

**Author's Note:**

> There will only be two or three more chapters, which means this isn't a very long chaptered fic, but I feel like it's better for the tension and anticipation if I break it up. I really hope you enjoy this!


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